I recently watched STV’s new four part drama called Believe Me, based on the true story of John Worboys, a black cab driver who raped and sexually assaulted an estimated over 100 women between 2006 and 2009.
The drama focuses on three women, Sarah, Laila and Carrie, who are all victims of Worboys. It is worth noting that not all details included in the drama are real. Scenes and characters were added for dramatisation and some names have been changed.
Three women and their fight for justice
Believe Me follows the three women’s stories including their assaults, their reporting of them to the police, the eventual court case and their decision to sue the police under the Human Rights Act for how they were treated. Although all three women reported the assaults to the police, none of them were taken sufficiently seriously. Evidence went missing and the women were given false information regarding blood and urine results and actions that had been taken. It wasn’t until 2009 that Worboys was arrested.
Worboys’ method was to lure women into the back of his taxi by offering them free rides home, claiming he lived that way, or by taking the money that they had if they couldn’t afford the full fare. When his victims were in the cab, he would claim he had won a lot of money that night and offer them a drink, usually champagne containing sedatives. He would coax the women into having a drink and claim he couldn’t as he was driving. Once the sedatives took effect and the women were unconscious, he would go into the back with them and either rape or sexually assault them. The women all had little or no memory of the event.
The long road to justice for John Worboys’ victims
In 2009, Worboys was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of eight years for his attacks on 12 women between October 2006 and February 2008. However, this was changed to a life sentence with a minimum of six years in 2019 when more women who were his victims came forward. In 2017 Worboys was set to be released on parole; however, two of the victims took legal action to prevent that. Worboys was up for parole for a second time in May 2026, and was yet again denied it due to still being deemed a danger to the wider public.
One of Worboys’ victims, Carrie Symonds, was 19 when Worboys attacked her. She waived her anonymity to speak out about the incident and tell people what she went through. Carrie is now better known as Carrie Johnson, the wife of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson with whom she shares four children. Carrie has been very open about Worboys’ recent denial of parole and about the impact that waiting to hear whether parole would be granted has had on her. When she heard he had been denied it once again, she felt a sense of relief and affirms that the decision keeps both women and girls safer within society.
Why Believe Me is essential viewing
A very powerful depiction of a harrowing story, Believe Me is powerful and emotional; it provides real insight into what Worboys’ victims went through and how much of a struggle they had to engage in just to be listened to and get justice.
While both the justice system and policing have changed in the last 20 years, according to Rape Crisis England and Wales in 2024, fewer than 3 in 100 of the rapes reported to police resulted in a charge or conviction. Rape and sexual offences still aren’t taken nearly as seriously as they should be by the police and justice system and well-made dramatisations such as Believe Me pose a simple yet powerful question for society – ‘why?’.
Bylines Network Gazette is out!
The latest Bylines Network Gazette is out now. Become a Friend of Bylines Network or upgrade to a paid Substack subscription, and you will get access to a vital collection of citizen articles and stories.
Journalism by the people, for the people.
